[Source: Science Daily]

Autism is a complex, lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder that affects more than one in 100 people — so understanding these brain networks has potential to show how autism develops over time, and to identify new approaches to treatment.

“We know that autism is different across children, who don’t show the exact same impairments,” says Dr. Erin Dickie, a CAMH scientist in the Kimel Family Imaging-Genetics Translational Laboratory, and lead author of the study. “One explanation is that each may have slight differences in brain network functioning, despite having a common diagnosis.”

Among researchers, clinicians and families, there is also increasing awareness that there are probably different sub-types of autism, based on differences in brain biology, says co-author Dr. Stephanie Ameis, Clinician Scientist and autism expert in the Child, Youth and Emerging Adult Division and the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH.

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